A rare gilt-bronze triad of Medicine Buddhas, Qing dynasty, Qianlong period | 清乾隆 銅鎏金佛坐像一組三尊

This triad includes Shakyamuni Buddha with hands in the earth-touching gesture (bhumisparsha mudra) and holding the begging bow (patra), and two figures of Buddha with hands in variations of the teaching gesture (dharmachakra mudra). The finely cast statues with elegantly gold-painted bodies and fire gilded robes and pedestals — typical characteristics of the Qianlong period — are likely to be from a mandala of the Eight Medicine Buddhas, cf. a Bhaishajyaguru thangka including a bhumisparsha Buddha with begging bowl and two Buddhas with similar hand gestures in Olschak, Mystic Art of Ancient Tibet, Boston and London, 1987, p. 64. A Qianlong period Bhaishajyaguru mandala in the State Hermitage consisting of some fifty statues include Buddhas in similar postures, see Rhie and Thurman, Wisdom and Compassion, London, 1991, cat. no. 134.